Tuesday, January 05, 2010
NBC + Comcast = TV Nowhere?
The new year started out with fallout from the (contested) merger between Comcast, the largest cable service provider, and NBC-Universal. Their new product is called "TV Everywhere," which will deliver streaming cable service over the Internet to subscribers. Much as the entertainment industry has previously, these companies spun the removing the access of millions to television as benefiting consumers. The argument goes something like: choice is king, and subscriptions improve the quality of content. This frames seismic shifts in control, which have consistently eroded public access and utility, as being beneficial to the average citizen. This attitude is pervasive even among those who ostensibly police broadcasters.
NBC and Comcast are set to appear at a Senate hearing later this month, but don't expect the deal to be blocked. They never are. At most, Kerry & co. will demand minor provisions and make several bold statements. As McChesney points out, questioning the commercial nature of the established media system is verboten. Making demands of them, such as ensuring a reasonable amount of educational programming or universal access, is out of the question.
The other more ominous threats are that this merger would make it easier for Warner to prosecute those sharing their content online, or even throttle connection speeds for connections to competitors to NBC on Comcast. If "TV Everywhere" spreads, well, everywhere, there would be little incentive to continue providing broadcast signals to non-cable-users. They are generally lower on the socio-economic ladder, and have the least amount of disposable income. Network broadcasters who broadcast through television frequencies are already trying to extract retransmission fees from cable companies, to get the same double-dipping revenue (ads + retransmission fees) that cable networks currently enjoy.
On the lighter side, two buddies in Florida went through Morgan & Morgan (who notoriously run late-night commercials to dredge up injury claims) to file a petition against News Corp, who was negotiating with Time Warner Cable, who were threatening to cut off access to Fox stations. Suffice to say that when Americans are filing lawsuites about a football game rather than vocally complaining about the sorry state of our fourth estate, we are in a very bad place.
"The consumer will be king," said Colin Crowell, senior counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "You'll be able to get your own set-top box that does all the whiz-bang things you want it to do, and you'll be in control."Unfortunately, it's not a good situation for consumers. The goal of companies, of course, is to maximize revenue. They seek mergers to add value to existing properties, and this one may open up entirely new ways to monetize content. The Internet is a goldmine of contextual subscriber information, which can inform advertisements directed to consumer tastes. Most importantly, "TV Everywhere," which would forbid cable channels to stream for free online, would add to the cable companies existing empires, while attempting to tame the Internet by restricting free content. As Josh Silver points out, cable companies are terrified of subscribers canceling their subscriptions in light of widely available online content.
NBC and Comcast are set to appear at a Senate hearing later this month, but don't expect the deal to be blocked. They never are. At most, Kerry & co. will demand minor provisions and make several bold statements. As McChesney points out, questioning the commercial nature of the established media system is verboten. Making demands of them, such as ensuring a reasonable amount of educational programming or universal access, is out of the question.
The other more ominous threats are that this merger would make it easier for Warner to prosecute those sharing their content online, or even throttle connection speeds for connections to competitors to NBC on Comcast. If "TV Everywhere" spreads, well, everywhere, there would be little incentive to continue providing broadcast signals to non-cable-users. They are generally lower on the socio-economic ladder, and have the least amount of disposable income. Network broadcasters who broadcast through television frequencies are already trying to extract retransmission fees from cable companies, to get the same double-dipping revenue (ads + retransmission fees) that cable networks currently enjoy.
On the lighter side, two buddies in Florida went through Morgan & Morgan (who notoriously run late-night commercials to dredge up injury claims) to file a petition against News Corp, who was negotiating with Time Warner Cable, who were threatening to cut off access to Fox stations. Suffice to say that when Americans are filing lawsuites about a football game rather than vocally complaining about the sorry state of our fourth estate, we are in a very bad place.
Their complaint, filed by Morgan & Morgan law firm, claims that the two men "can never be made whole" if they miss the New Year's Day game.
According to the filing, Thomas Moore and Richard Anderson "have alleged and will demonstrate that [News Corp.'s] actions are immoral, unethical, oppressive, and unscrupulous."
